Family Ramblings

Monday, July 30, 2012

Happy Birthday Sam

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Cypress Hills

We had a week of holidays coming. Couldn't decided what to do. Finally narrowed it down to going camping somewhere. After more discussion made a short list and made our final choice by the weather forecast. And the best weather seemed to be in southeastern Alberta. Geoff has always said he wanted to see the the Cypress Hills so we went on a road trip. It was a beautiful day for a drive and we saw parts of Alberta we had never seen. I have to say I love the prairies. A prairie girl and a mountain man - who would have thought it could work? Anyway the Cypress Hills provincial park is a great place. We really enjoyed our time there. Went on a hike (good thing it was easy, we are not in v good shape) and to see Fort Walsh National Historic Site. This is where the Mounties first had a fort, they started because of the Cypress Hills massacre. The site is really good and very interesting. You can see it (a re-creation) behind me; you take a bus down to the actual site from the visitor centre. Drove around a bit in Saskatchewan. There was a really big thunderstorm the first night of camping but it didn't start until we were all tucked away in bed, and the weather the rest of the time was warm and sunny. We were going to stop in Medicine Hat on the way home to see Fred and Christine but got a late start and decided to just head home.
Grace is in Drayton Valley to go to a wedding with Daylen so there was nobody to greet us when we got back. It was also strange to be camping without kids but although different we liked it.
The picture of Geoff is at the top of the hills with the prairie rolling out behind him.

Gee but it's great to be back home

Home is where I want to be, yeah (with thanks to Simon and Garfunkel)

The time in Kelowna flew by, it was hard to believe that I was there almost 3 months. Mom is getting better, more good days than bad, but still it was kind of a shock at how quickly the osteoarthrithritis came on. I did most of my assigned chores but still left some for Allison to complete when she is there next week.

Coming home was uneventful. I must have had Lady Luck on my side on Thursday, first Richard did not start work until 1:30 so he took me out to the airport and waved goodbye. Then once I got to Edmonton, luggage was there in only 10 minutes and when I walked out the door the 747 bus was waiting, so I caught that and the train and was home in only an hour after my flight landed and for only 8 bucks.

On Sunday we went out to Fintry on the west side of the lake. It was an Edwardian Fair, so there were craft and information booths. Fintry also has a house built by an Englishman who came to settle there. We had a nice tour guide and learned lots about the owner and the times he lived in. Afterwards we had a picnic by the lake, and were swarmed by mosquitoes. It really made me appreciate the lack of mosquitoes in Kelowna.

The last couple of weeks I went to the beach quite a bit. I found one of the accesses off of Abbot and Burne to be the best. Most of the time there was hardly anyone there, it has a great big tree so shade was available all day long and a few times I was the only one on the beach, so relaxing.

I also did a ton of reading thank goodness for ipad and the Edmonton Public Library, I was able to check out books without leaving Mom's backyard. Mom's garden is really producing, we had broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, radishes.

Think I will go to the Farmers Market today, and see what kinds of fresh stuff I can pick up there.

I stopped by the store yesterday and saw Kay. I am going to start work there on Monday, then Tuesday off to Rosebud to see Anne of Green Gables, back home on Wednesday, then work on Thursday and Friday. A very busy week.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Essay Avoidance

I am working on this damn essay right now, almost done, and trying to think of ethical issues related to the treatment of people with Borderline Personality Disorder in a soco-political context and how nurses can address those issues.
At this point-who cares? Not me. Still I will have to churn out my final 2 pages, hating it.
The prof is relentlessly positive while telling us on-line, Onward! And cheerfully pointing out to those who must have requested (I was not one of them) an essay extension, that the course is compressed and they will take this into consideration when marking.
Oh really? My 1st essay begs to differ.
I think this course has led to me to feel that nurses need to stop blaming others for their work environment, put on their big girl panties and deal with it.
I don't think that was in the goals for the course.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Hot, hot, hot

Boy, is it hot. Not a complaint, I love it. Geoff is not as happy about it as I am - he has to work in it while I enjoy an air-conditioned office most of the day. But he sure liked the heat on the weekend.
The garden is taking right off. All this sun together with the rain we had is making everything grow, grow, grow. You would hardly know we were almost hailed out three weeks ago.
Grace's birthday on Friday but she went to the city for the weekend so we had cake and presents on Sunday; Tim and Courtney and Kane came over. That may have been the last birthday celebration that I do. The kids are all out on their own.
Grace is out on the river tonight, got a message saying she went down once and was going again.
Things are upside down at work. The whole office is being renovated so we are dodging carpenters and electricians everywhere. But the end result will be very nice. No more 70s wallboard.

Friday, July 06, 2012

Happy Birthday Grace

Sunday, July 01, 2012

New job; new apartment; Rocky visit; done school; Niagara Falls

It's been around a year since my last FR post (I checked) so perhaps an update is in order.

In December I completed my co-op term in TELUS finance and returned to school for my last semester. Despite having only four courses and one job, I'm pretty sure it was the most demanding one in my post-secondary career. I was taking two of the most difficult senior accounting courses (Advanced Financial Accounting and Corporate Taxation), a database management class, and a consulting project course. Our project was determining the optimal mix of staff to schedule for an oilfield service company. It was a lot of work, but I suppose it was a good experience, although it certainly didn't seem like it at the time. Also, our paper for the project was a finalist for an academic student paper competition. The university sent me and another guy from my group to a conference in Niagara Falls to present it. We didn't win, but on the other hand I got a free trip to Niagara Falls and it was good to get out of the city for a while.

The job was teaching labs again, which I thoroughly enjoy. I'm looking to see if I can teach some computer-based courses on a part-time basis (continuing education courses, possibly) because I miss it.

I graduated in early June. I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up back at school in a few years, but for now, I think that's enough of that. It took me five years due to co-op, so I'm in no rush to become a student again.

In May I started a new job at Capital Power. My title is "Power Market Modeling Specialist", which means I'm supposed to develop forecasts to predict the price of power. I'm eventually going to be responsible for handling the Alberta forecast, which for various reasons is the most complex one we do.

I was originally going to move to Calgary to do tax accounting. However, a professor forwarded me the posting for the Capital Power job, which sounded somewhat more interesting than tax accounting, so I applied and ended up getting it. It's very much about data analysis and computer-based modeling - quite far away from my original plan. The pay and benefits are excellent but I'm holding off rendering an opinion on the job itself until I've been there for a while longer.

As Mom previously noted, I was home last weekend for the first time since January, when I was there for less than 24 hours to attend a wedding. Nancy got to meet quite a few of my Rocky friends, and I met Jordan's baby and saw his new place. We went to the cabin (which has a bunch of new furniture, incidentally) and got the canoe out and whatnot.

I'm at AJ's right now; you get kicked out of residence once you're no longer a student, so I moved at the end of April. My friend Ian and I signed a lease for a pretty nice walkup on 118th Street starting today, but I'm planning to move in a couple weeks since AJ is extending her Kelowna visit a little longer.

On a negative note, I went to ride my bike the other day to find out it had been stolen from where I had it locked up. That bike and I have been through a lot together, so I was pretty disappointed.

Rain in Edmonton for Canada Day, but I was at work anyway, so it didn't bother me much. Weather here has been pretty decent so far this summer.

Long weekend

We are waiting for weather to pick up and then go downtown.
Honestly, the weather has been wacky this year-yesterday was warm all day, but we would have thunderstorms and big downpours throughout the day. I cannot remember another year with this much rain. It is supposed to get nicer this week allegedly.
I have little faith in the forecast.
Jude and I went to farmers market yesterday. Got some fantastic strawberries, peas, these steamed buns (from vegetarian Chinese food place), and bath salts.
We went for lunch after, then I did laundry and hung it out, hoping that the warmness and periods of not raining would give enough time for the stuff to dry. Not really, it is still hanging out there.
Matthew, Richard's brother Bill's youngest son, came to visit. We had a lovely time with him. Went to the trestles for a bike ride, out for supper, Knox Mtn, Bear Creek park, supper with Mom and Jude. He is such a nice man. Planning on going into social work or counselling.
Our laptop wouldn't charge, it is the input ac charger. Will cost about a $100. Jude has kindly given us her laptop to use.
Work seems to be settling down. I think people are getting used to being in new unit. I certainly am. I like it a lot.
We haven't decided when to go to Ontario for a visit, either in August or October. I am leaning towards October, but feel Richard should decide as is his side of family. The only downside is that October is a long ways away for a vacation. I will take some days off in the meantime.
Did I mention I went to a psychopathy presentation? It was excellent!
They have seen signs of it in people as young as 3. But if you think someone (as in your social, work circle) may be a psychopath, it usually takes about 6 months to really figure out if they are or not. That person I used to work with qualified I am quite sure.
People who work in law enforcement, mental health etc-may have higher rates, though in general population is about 1-2%.
Can't be cured, but there is some evidence that it can be treated, basically by pointing out where acting in certain ways would not benefit the psychopath. Empathy training does not work.
Superficially charming, but no real deep emotions.
We have birds nesting on our deck. Chirp.